Mike Trout is taking his love of golf to the next level or, perhaps, the upper deck, to use a baseball term.
On Monday, it was announced that Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, will collaborate with Tiger Woods to build Trout National – The Reserve in Vineland, New Jersey.
The news was initially reported by Sports Illustrated.
Scheduled to open in 2025, the course will be built in Vineland, New Jersey, where Trout was born and near his current Millville, New Jersey home.
"I’ve always watched Mike on the diamond so when an opportunity arose to work with him on Trout National – The Reserve, I couldn’t pass it up," Woods said in a press statement. "It’s a great site for golf."
Trout's golf playing days date back to when he was in high school and would go to the driving range with his father. The opportunity to own a course first arose prior to COVID-19 in 2020, but the deal did not work out.
A year or two later, Trout learned of someone attempting to build a few holes in Vineland, got his brother Tyler to look into the matter and that eventually led to a meeting with John Ruga, a developer and president of Northeast Precast in Vineland, and Ruga's wife Lorie. The next piece was finding a course architect.
Trout places Bluejack National, designed by Woods' TGR Design golf course architecture firm outside of Houston, as one of his favorite courses, so the choice was simple.
Trout and Woods had never met prior to meeting on this project. The release says the golf course will be built on a sandy site that was once home to a silica sand mine and is surrounded by forest and farmland. In addition to the 18-hole championship course, Trout National will include a practice range, short-game area, clubhouse, restaurant, lodging and a wedding chapel.
